InformationWeek

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Y2K Under Control Y2K: Who Pays? PDF file: Selected Desktop Y2K Products (To view a PDF file, you must first have the Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

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Computer Reseller News Still Vulnerable: Links to partners a potential danger

ne wouldn't think there were any Y2K Chernobyls lurking out there, what with more media coverage of the dreaded millennial clock-tick than any three Washington scandals combined. Guess again. And think desktop PCs. Most of IT's focus on year 2000 issues has been on the mainframe and on custom applications that may have code that doesn't properly recognize dates after Dec. 31, 1999. PC systems have received less attention, and many managers may assume that as long as their PCs and applications are only a few years old, there shouldn't be any problems. This is not necessarily the case. There are three major issues with PC systems: hardware limits in the BIOS and real-time clock, operating-system issues, and application issues. Each has unique problems, and there is no guarantee that just because the hardware or application is relatively new that there won't be problems. Fortunately, testing desktop hardware is fairly simple, although testing all operating systems and applications may not be (see the list on p. 60 for more information on year 2000 software and hardware remedies). Some products focus on finding and fixing problematic PC components (the BIOS and real-time clock), while others look for installed operating systems or applications, compare them against a database, and alert the manager to potential problems. Others can look through code in custom applications from programs written in C++ to spreadsheets, find potentially problematic code, and suggest fixes.

There are other specialized issues for many network administrators. Servers have the same BIOS and real-time clock issues as desktop systems, and the operating systems may not be compliant either, depending on their age or the version of the service pack installed. Some network equipment, such as routers and managed hubs and switches, may also be aware of the date and time and could have problems. Some applications can search for and identify these network devices.

There are two components of a PC that may have problems with the changeover to the new year. The BIOS may not provide support for the millennium change or may not properly support the leap year in 2000. The real-time clock is the battery-backed counter that keeps the time whether the PC is on or not.

Once a situation is identified, there are a number of remedies for systems with hardware problems. While many IT groups are rushing to replace older systems to prevent problems, that isn't the only option.

Some vendors have BIOS upgrades that address the issue. Inexpensive cards can be installed to take over for the old BIOS and real-time clock, and provide complete support for the year change. One vendor that makes the cards is Micro 2000 Inc.

There are also software solutions: a program that runs when the PC boots, intercepting all software that attempts to access the real-time clock and supplying the software with a correct date and time. These are less expensive than the cards but use a small amount of memory and could conceivably allow some badly written problems to bypass the correction software and get a wrong date from the clock.

Operating-System Hurdles
In addition to the PC's clock reporting a wrong date, there's also the possibility that the operating system itself, when it gets the correct date from the clock, will improperly interpret the date. Unfortunately, this isn't simply a matter of a single bit of code. Depending on the operating system, there may be several, dozens, or even hundreds of vulnerable pieces of code in the operating system.

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